The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-02-19

1t was o'clock in the afternoon of the
10Th of August, 1859, that we lowered three
boats from the Lord William, of Liverpool,
to pull for u whale which had spOuted
mile to windward. 1t was the first whale
we had raised for IA week, and we were on
the Brazilian banks. | was in the second
mates boat, and owing to an accident we
were the last away from the ship This
would have put us out of the race altogether
but for the actions of the whale. The two
boats had not covered half the distance
when he sounded, and instead of running
head to the wind and sea, is almost in
variably the rule, he passed under the boats
and rose near that his wash almost
upset us. 1t wasn't twenty seconds before
we had harpoon into him and had made
everything clear for "a run. Most whales
will run of the moment they feel the iron.
The harpoon entered this fellow good and
deep, but it was long time before he made
the slightest move. You would have
thought him dead or asleep, and we were
puzzled To account for it. We had backed
away To avoid the sweep of his flukes, but
after a bit Mr.. Converse, the mate, softly
whispers:
"we1l pull up softly and give him the
lance"
As il his words had reached the ears of
the big fish, the whales flukes were raised
high in the air to fall with a terrible slap;
he slowed around, head to the wind, and
then, seeming to draw "a long breath, he
started OFT ut such a rate of speed that two
of us had to- keep bailing from the very
outset. He ran right between the other
boats, but they We're too far away to give
him the harpoon. They gave us u cheer
and pulled after us, but they had no more
show than log would have chasing a ship
under full sail. The proper thing for to
do was to pull the boat up until we could
put in another harpOon, but whenever we
tried it the old leviathan worked his flukeS
in a way that meant destruction to any
thing coming within reach. He was run
ming of into the wind as straight as an ar
row, and we could not pull up to him with
out passing his fiukes-
1t did not seem half an hour before we
had run the ship hull down. l saw that
Mr.. Converse was becoming very anxious
but, sailOr-like and whaler-hke, he was de
termined to hang on while there was any
hope of success. IL was mOnstrOus big
whale and, outside of financial reasons
there feeling that we must not let go
until the last.
1t was the business of the ship to work up
toward us, and the last glimpse | caught of
her she was making short boards i'll the
face of the breeze. All of a sudden the
wind fell as Hat as you please, and it was
hardly two minutes before we lost sight of
the ship. We rubbed our eyes and looked
again and again, but she had been blotted
Off the face of the sea. Almost at once We
discovered that IA fog had sprung up 10 lee
ward and as the whale was still running Off
as fast and stout as ever, Mr.. Converse
gave the order to cut the line. We were
now twelve o. fifteen miles from the ship,
with fog around So dense that
,.,f aIa tyy,l h=
ever we knew within two compass points
of where the ship lay, and had bite TO
eat a drink of winter all around, and then
got out the compass and settled ourselves
down for u long and weary pull The idea
that we might not find the vessel never oc-
CURED To one of US Our captain was q
quick tempered, iraScibe man, AMI the feel
ing was i'll every mind that he would raise
IA breeze when we got aboard We had
done best to make a capture, but the
loss of n harpOOn and three or four hours
time would insure us a cold welcome on
our return We were bending our backs to
u long. steady stroke, and had covered half
the distance To the ship, when n whale rose
within hundred feet of us. He showed at
least thirty feet of his length out of water
as he came up, and then he fell upon the
surface with "a crash which could have been
heard n mile away. We came within an
acc OF DtlilP SN DN lDS sea nt Altktu
up, and our Roadway had just been checked
when the mate, standing at full height in
the sternsheets sang out in a frightened
voice:
''Hold hard, men, They are breaking all
around
l can assure You that it was a most I'M
comfortable situation. The fog had thickened
up until could not see the boats length,
and it was not to be expected that the
whales were going TO lie on the surface with
out movement There soon occurred what
some would regard a phenomena, but
something which all sailors have probably
experienced at least once in following their
vocation. y breeze came up which blew
over the fog. Instead of SCATTERING and
driving it away it packed il down on the
surface of the ocean We could hear the
wind above our heads, but not the slightest
zephyr reached US in the boat, nor was the
surface of the ocean disturbed.
The whales probably came 10 the surface
to sleep, for after awhile they were very
quiet, and we heard nothing except an oc-
casional sound very much like long drawn
sigh. For half an hour after humping the
whale rs described, kept clear Of the
others but the ground swell gave no move
ment, and of sudden great black mass
doomed up on our port broadside again,
and before We could move hand or foot our
boat lodged fairly across the nose OF
whale. There was no mistake to our
position Those of US ON that side could
have put out our hands and touched him